Shamakhani: Iran Returns to Talks With Biden Only If 'Sanctions Removed'

Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani in Tehran, Iran, January 17, 2017. (Ebrahim Noroozi/ AP/ File)
Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani in Tehran, Iran, January 17, 2017. (Ebrahim Noroozi/ AP/ File)
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Shamakhani: Iran Returns to Talks With Biden Only If 'Sanctions Removed'

Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani in Tehran, Iran, January 17, 2017. (Ebrahim Noroozi/ AP/ File)
Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani in Tehran, Iran, January 17, 2017. (Ebrahim Noroozi/ AP/ File)

Iran said Sunday the issue of US return to the 2015 nuclear deal is “worthless” if all anti-Iran sanctions are not removed.

“The full and definite removal of all sanctions is Washington’s only option to return from (outgoing US President Donald) Trump’s failed strategy of maximum pressure,” said Ali Shamkhani, the Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC).

In a Sunday tweet with the hashtag #Active_Resistance, he said, “The US war of perception aimed at exaggerating a worthless issue like the country’s return to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) will go nowhere.”

In return, President-elect Joe Biden’s National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told CNN that as soon as Iran re-entered compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal, there would be a “follow-on negotiation” over its missile capabilities.

He said that Trump’s actions towards Iran did not make the US safer or protect the US national interests.

“Iran is closer to a nuclear weapon today than they were one year ago,” Sullivan said.

Meanwhile, a new draft law was presented to the Iranian Parliament to ban direct talks with the US government or in the presence of US representatives “unless Washington officially apologizes for exiting the Nuclear Deal and condemns the assassination of General Qassem Soleimani.”

The draft law also stipulates taking financial compensations from the US and European countries in return for the US withdrawal from the JCPOA.

Last month, the Guardian Council of Iran approved a bill passed by the Iranian Parliament, entitled “Strategic Action Plan to Lift Sanctions and Protect Iranian Nation’s Interests” requesting that the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran fulfills in full and without any delay, the country’s demand for uranium enriched above 20% for peaceful purposes.

Last week, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Iran had informed it of its plans to enrich to a purity of up to 20% at its Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant.



Sumy City Under Threat as Russian Forces Advance, Ukraine Says 

A fragment of a rocket is seen following a Russian strike on Sumy, Ukraine, on Tuesday, June 3, 2025. (AP) 
A fragment of a rocket is seen following a Russian strike on Sumy, Ukraine, on Tuesday, June 3, 2025. (AP) 
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Sumy City Under Threat as Russian Forces Advance, Ukraine Says 

A fragment of a rocket is seen following a Russian strike on Sumy, Ukraine, on Tuesday, June 3, 2025. (AP) 
A fragment of a rocket is seen following a Russian strike on Sumy, Ukraine, on Tuesday, June 3, 2025. (AP) 

Russian forces have widened the frontline in Ukraine's northern region of Sumy, officials and analysts said, and Moscow said it captured another village on Tuesday, bringing the region's capital closer to within the range of frontline drones.

The advance towards the city of Sumy - the administrative center of the Sumy region - comes as Kyiv showed its ability to continue fighting by conducting a series of strikes in recent days, hitting Russian strategic bombers and the Crimean Bridge.

Russian and Ukrainian delegations met in Türkiye for peace talks on Monday where Moscow said it would only agree to end the war if Kyiv cedes big new chunks of territory and accepts limits on the size of its army.

On Tuesday, Russia's defense ministry said its forces took control of Andriivka, after capturing several other villages in recent days. Kyiv said Russian artillery attack on the city of Sumy killed four people and injured 28.

The head of the military administration of the Sumy region, which lies north of Ukraine's second-largest city of Kharkiv, held a meeting on Tuesday to discuss the region's defense strategy.

"The situation in the border area of Sumy region remains complex, dynamic, but controllable," the head of the military administration, Oleh Hryhorov, said on Facebook.

"The Russian army is constantly shelling border villages, hitting residential buildings, farms, and civilian infrastructure facilities."

The dual advance with fierce frontline fighting and missile and drone strikes in Sumy hinders Ukraine's defense abilities along in the southeast Donbas region, of which Moscow is seeking full control, military analysts say.

On Monday, Ivan Shevtsov, a spokesman for the Ukrainian brigades fighting in Sumy, told Ukrainian national broadcaster that Russian forces had captured about 15 km (9 miles) along the frontline, going 6-7 km deep.

If Russian advances take the town of Yunakivka, Shevtsov said, the city of Sumy will be under a direct threat.

The Ukrainian Deep State blog of analysts who track the front line using open sources said Russian forces are moving to within 20-25 km of Sumy, putting the city within a range of shorter-range attack drones.

Reuters could not independently verify the Russian claim of capturing Andriivka and Ukraine's General Staff made no references to the village in its evening battlefield report. DeepState said early on Wednesday that Andriivka was now in Russian hands.

Over the weekend, Sumy's authorities ordered mandatory evacuation of 11 additional villages due to escalating Russian attacks.

Shevtsov said Russia wants to completely capture the Sumy region, not just make a small incursion.

"Just ... like other regions in eastern Ukraine," he added.